Archimedes' Bathtub The Art and Logic of Breakthrough Thinking by David Perkins

by David N. Perkins

A brain-teasing, brain-pleasing look at the often-hidden mechanisms of innovation. From Archimedes' discovery of the principle of water displacement while taking a bath to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, from Brunelleschi's development of perspective drawing to the Impressionist revolution, from the taming of fire to the creation of the laser, "breakthrough thinking"--that is, a sudden, seemingly unaccountable moment of inspiration--has shaped and advanced civilization. But Nature invents, too--through evolutionary watersheds like vertebrate mammals and formerly grounded creatures making the leap to flight. How, then, does breakthrough thinking really work? What, if anything, does human invention have in common with biological evolution? In this sly tour de force of deep analysis and practical exercises, David Perkins explores the common logic behind breakthroughs across many fields, historical periods, and evolutionary epochs. Drawing on a rich knowledge of artificial intelligence and cognitive psychology, Perkins offers a uniquely integrative theory of how breakthroughs occur, along with dozens of delightful mind puzzles and illustrations that will have you quizzing whoever happens to be nearest.

Genres: Science

Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

About the author

David Perkins is a founding member of Harvard Project Zero, a basic research project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education investigating human symbolic capacities and their development. For many years, he served as co-director, and is now senior co-director and a member of the steering committee. Perkins conducts research on creativity in the arts and sciences, informal reasoning, problem solving, understanding, individual and organizational learning, and the teaching of thinking skills. He has participated in curriculum projects addressing thinking, understanding, and learning in Colombia, Israel, Venezuela, South Africa, Sweden, Holland, Australia, and the United States. He is actively involved in school change. Perkins was one of the principal developers of WIDE World, a distance learning model practitioners now embedded in programs at HGSE. He is the author of numerous publications, including fourteen authored or co-authored books. His books include; The Eureka Effect, about creativity; King Arthurs Round Table, about organizational intelligence and learning; Making Learning Whole, a general framework for deepening education at all levels; and Future Wise, about what's worth teaching for the contemporary era.

Reviews

[mavromou · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un libro excelente que permite comprender la importancia del pensamiento creativo, para la resolución de problemas que se prestan para ello. Mas allá de hablar de conceptos centrales en creatividad como lo es la bisociación, introduce dos ideas interesantes, la primera es la analogía para resolver problemas de modo creativo con la búsqueda del oro en el rio Klondike. La segunda es que utiliza el análisis de la estructura de lo que llama "problemas irracionales" para comprender y explicar procesos de pensamiento que ocurren cuando intentamos resolver dichos problemas.

[Mangoo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perkins produce alcuni suggerimenti per imparare a pensare creativamente. Lo fa esponendo implicitamente la procedura di ricerca di soluzioni entro un paesaggio di ricerca che si applica negli algoritmi di ottimizazione (come algoritmi genetici, annealing simulato ed altri). Secondo il motto di Pasteur, secondo cui la fortuna aiuta solo chi è preparato a coglierla.

[Karlyn Farris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not the easiest book yo read, but worth it for he insights!